Lawrence Badash

British and American views of the German menace in World War I

At a Symposium on the History of Nuclear Physics, the distinguished Caltech astrophysicist and recent president of the American Physical Society, Willy Fowler, was asked to comment on the concept of internationalism in science. ‘There are nationalistic tendencies, to be sure’, he responded, ‘but they are subordinated to scientists’ love of travel’. By and large, nationalistic tendencies have been suppressed, if not in favour of hedonism, then surely in deference to hymns of praise to the brotherhood of science.

From security blanket to security risk: scientists in the decade after Hiroshima

Aside from a number of early prophesies of abundant and cheap nuclear power, and increased supplies of isotopes for medical research, diagnosis and therapy, visions of the Atomic Age were overwhelmingly troublesome in the aftermath of Hiroshima. Not only did nuclear Armageddon seem likely to many observers, the steps taken to enhance national security in the United States cast classes of citizens into the doleful category of “security risk.” Scientists were among those feared—a stunning (and almost instantaneous) change from their perception in August 1945 as the nuclear wizards who brought World War II to an end. National security was the dominant factor in this transformation, but there were nuances to it. This article attempts a taxonomy of the ways in which scientists were viewed in the United States.

THE SUICIDAL SUCCESS OF RADIOCHEMISTRY

During the few years prior to World War I the science of radiochemistry saw such notable advances that, in effect, it had no more questions to ask, and it was abandoned (except for applications). The group displacement laws offered a traffic pattern for the periodic table, indicating where the daughter products of alpha- and beta-decay should be placed. The concept of isotopy permitted more than one radioelement to exist in a given box of the periodic table. The paths to these great accomplishments were numerous and intertwined. Confirmation by atomic weight measurements was more direct, and equally stirring. Human interest is added to this story of outstanding theoretical and experimental achievement by charges of plagiarism of scientific ideas.

Otto Hahn, Science, and Social Responsibility

Otto Hahn is widely portrayed as a warm, considerate, charming person. The characterization is accurate. In fact, precisely because the personality of this decent human being suffered no great changes throughout his career, he offers us a touchstone to determined the extent of changes in scientists’ perceptions of their obligations to society during the twentieth century.

Trafficking Materials and Gendered Experimental Practices: Radium Research in Early 20th Century Vienna

As this work has now been organized after several years of tentative efforts each collaborator has his or her [emphasis mine] particular share to take in making the practical preparations necessary for an experiment. Besides each has his or her particular theme for research which he pursues and where he can count on the help from one or more of his fellow workers. Such help is freely given certain workers having spent months preparing the means required for another workers theme.